Obituary: Iain Banks

Scottish author Iain Banks, best known for his novels The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road, has died aged 59, two months after revealing that he had terminal cancer, his publisher said.

Banks died less than a fortnight before the scheduled publication of his final book, The Quarry, which focuses on the final weeks in the life of its cancer-ridden protagonist.

He was one of Britain’s most prolific writers and unusual in his talent for both mainstream novels and science fiction, which he wrote under the name Iain M Banks — via redwolf.newsvine.com